Press: Chrysler is not reopening sales bank

Chrysler Vice Chairman Jim Press said today that the company is not reviving its controversial “sales bank.”

Press’ comments followed a story that appeared in Automotive News detailing an appeal Press made to persuade Chrysler dealers to purchase 12,000 unassigned vehicles. The AN report said this marked a revival of Chrysler’s sales bank, an extremely unpopular practice dating from 2006, when the automaker produced 100,000 vehicles without orders for them and pressured dealers to take them.

In an interview, Press said he asked dealers to buy the extra vehicles during a conference call last Friday but said the cars and trucks were produced to fill legitimate purchase orders that were canceled before delivery could be made. The vehicles were built for fleet customers, dealership promotions and for dealers who either could not get financing for them or went out of business.

Jim Arrigo and Hayden Elder, co-chairmen of the Chrysler Dodge Jeep national dealer council, said Press’ appeal did not mark the return of the sales bank.

“When we were doing sales bank, there was a lot of pressure,” said Arrigo, owner of Arrigo Dodge-Chrysler-Jeep in West Palm Beach, Fla. “It’s totally different this time. There isn’t somebody calling up.”